Mugabe aide urges world to accept vote

Factory workers in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe yesterday searched debris after the site was allegedly bombed by ZANU-PF allies. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press)

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe urged the world yesterday to accept President Robert Mugabe's reelection and said any move to impose United Nations sanctions on his government would hurt everyone involved.

This week, the UN Security Council is due to discuss a United States and British-based proposal for financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and his top officials as well as an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.

World leaders at the Group of Eight nations summit in Japan also raised the prospect of more sanctions on Zimbabwe unless quick progress is made to end a political crisis after Mugabe's reelection in a poll that drew global condemnation.

"It is the UK that is pushing for sanctions, but isolating and demonizing Zimbabwe is not in the best interests of anyone," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said.

"The people of Zimbabwe made a decision on June 27 and that decision has to be respected."

The sanctions are aimed at punishing Mugabe and his closest aides for holding a presidential run-off election last month that was boycotted by challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, who accused Mugabe of deadly attacks on his supporters.

Mugabe, 84, was sworn in for a new five-year term after election authorities declared he had won a landslide victory. Britain, the United States, and many Western nations refuse to recognize his victory and view his government as illegitimate.

David Miliband, Britain's foreign secretary, called yesterday for the world to unite on the sanctions proposal.

Tsvangirai won a March 29 election but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot. He withdrew from the campaign after repeated attacks on supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change by pro-Mugabe militia.

The MDC says more than 100 of its followers have been killed in a crackdown by Mugabe's supporters. The party said yesterday that one more body had been found.

Tsvangirai was arrested five times and his lieutenant, Tendai Biti, was detained on a treason charge after returning to the country to participate in the campaign. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

A Zimbabwean court yesterday postponed proceedings against Biti until Aug. 26. The MDC secretary general is accused of prematurely leaking the results of the March elections. He is currently free on bail.